A fuse device is conventionally a device which naturally possesses an electrically passing or closed state (in which it permits a current to pass and thus behaves as a closed switch) and also an electrically open state (in which it behaves as an open switch (to within possible current leaks)).
The fuse device passes from its electrically passing state to its electrically open state in the presence of a trigger event and this passage is irreversible, that is to say that the fuse device having passed to its electrically open state cannot return to the electrically passing state.
Fuse devices find numerous applications in electronics and make it possible to adjust capacitive and/or resistive values, in particular after production of the integrated circuit. In this regard it is, for example, possible to produce a network of capacitors connected in parallel by way of fuse devices that will be rendered selectively open as a function of the desired capacitance final value.
Among the possible applications may be cited, without limitation, the circuits of memories, in particular EEPROM memories, within which adjustments (“trimming”) of capacitances are carried out.
At present a conventional solution for producing a fuse device consists in using a metal line (naturally electrically passing) that is melted locally with the aid of a laser beam so as to cause the fuse to pass to its open state. However such a technique requires an additional item of equipment (i.e., the laser) and additional method steps.
A need exists to simplify the production and the implementation of fuse devices within integrated circuits.